Methods, systems, and products for redirecting calls

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and products process a call from a calling number to a called number. When the call is received, processing of the call is suspended. A database is queried for the calling number and the called number. A network address associated with the calling number and with the called number is retrieved. An intended recipient of the call is also retrieved from the database. A notification message is sent to the network address, and the notification message includes the calling number and the intended recipient of the call. Processing of the call is resumed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.10/700,647, filed Nov. 5, 2003, and now issued as U.S. Pat. No.7,477,733, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.10/020,938, filed Dec. 19, 2001 and now issued as U.S. Pat. No.6,668,049, with both applications incorporated herein by reference intheir entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to telecommunications systems,and more particularly to enhanced call processing for telephone calls ina public switch telephone network or for telephone calls in apacket-switched data network.

2. Background of the Invention

Telecommunications system users often use communications devices in ashared environment. For example, in a typical household and in someoffices a single telephone line may be used by multiple parties. In suchenvironments, when a caller calls the household or the office, thecaller dials a commonly used telephone number with the intent ofreaching only one of the individuals associated with the number. If theintended called party is not at the called location when the callarrives, an extra burden is placed on the caller, the answering party,and the intended called party. That is, the other users of the sharedcommunications device may answer a call merely to inform the caller thatthe intended called party is not in. The answering party may furthertake a message from the caller, or provide additional informationregarding the intended called party's whereabouts. If the caller isdirected to another location where the intended called party might bereached, the caller must end the current communication and place anothercall to the other location. If the caller does not wish to make asubsequent call, the intended called party may have missed an importantcommunication.

One way for reducing the burden for answering parties has been to use acaller identification (caller-id) display device to identify the callingparty prior to answering a call. Caller-id devices only allow theanswering party to screen for calls that may be intended for a userpresent in the household or office. That is, for example, if DianneCarter (calling from her office number, 205-654-2022) is known to always(or primarily) wish to communicate with Joan, and Joan is not at home atthe time of a call from Dianne, Joan's family may choose not answer thecall. If the household has voicemail or an answering machine, Diannecould leave a message, but she would not be put into contact with Joanuntil some time later.

If Joan was expecting the call, but had to leave the house for someperiod of time, the family could answer the call and could inform Diannethat Joan can be reached on her mobile telephone. In this case, Diannehas to hang up the call and dial Joan's mobile phone number. Further, ifDianne does not have a convenient means of writing down the newtelephone number, she may forget the new number or may fail to place thesecond call.

In another situation, Joan (the intended called party) may not want toprovide Dianne (the calling party) with the alternate telephone numberbut still desires to receive Dianne's call even when Joan is out of thehome or office. Using conventional systems and methods, a person atJoan's home or office may answer Dianne's call, prompt her for hertelephone number, then call Joan and ask her to return Dianne's call.Again, this method places a burden on the answering party who must serveas an intermediary between the calling party and the intended calledparty. A burden is also placed on the intended called party who mustplace a new call to the caller.

A need therefore exists for systems and methods to allow the recipientparty (also referred to herein as “answering party”) to redirect thecall to the intended called party (also referred to herein as “calledparty”) without having to interact with the caller (also referred toherein as “calling party”) and without requiring any of the parties toplace a subsequent call.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides systems and methods of redirecting atelephone call to an intended recipient according to an instructionreceived from a recipient of a call notification related to thetelephone call. The systems and methods include receiving the telephonecall at a switch and suspending the telephone call at the switch inresponse to a trigger configured on a subscriber's line. A first querymessage including at least a calling party information and a calledparty information may be sent from the switch to a server system. In oneembodiment, the switch may be a service switching point or avoice-over-data network switch. In another embodiment, the server systemmay be a service control point or an application server in communicationwith the switch.

The server system may look up a network address associated with acommunications center according to the called party information receivedin the query from the switch. The server system may also look up theintended recipient in a database based at least in part on the calledparty information and the calling party information provided in thefirst query message.

Once the communications center address has been determined, the servermay send a notification message the communications center. In anembodiment, the notification message may include at least the callingparty information and the intended recipient information identified bythe server. The server then may receive a response from thecommunications center to the server including call processinginstructions transmitted by the call recipient. The server system maythen send a response to the first query message back to the switchproviding at least part of the call processing instructions. The switchthen completes the telephone call according to the response from theserver.

The call processing instructions may be determined in part based onother information identified by the server related to the calling partyand the intended called party. The server may include one or moreprofiles that may be configured with call processing instructionsreceived from a subscriber.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an architecture that may be used toimplement an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an architecture that may be used toimplement another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an architecture that may be used toimplement another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an architecture that may be used toimplement another embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 5A-5D are schematic diagrams illustrating various profiles thatmay be used in embodiments of the present invention to provide enhancedcall routing options.

FIG. 6A is a schematic diagram showing how an always-on communicationscenter may alert a user of an incoming call and provide an interface forredirecting the call to the intended recipient.

FIG. 6B is close-up view of a pop-up window that may be used as aninterface for receiving call processing instructions from a callrecipient.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram showing steps that may be used in embodimentsof the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows an architecture that may be used to implement an embodimentof the present invention. In FIG. 1, location 10 has telephone 12 andshared always-on communications center 14. Location 10 may represent theintended called party's home or office or other location where a callingparty using, for example, telephone 20, may call to reach the intendedcalled party. Telephone 20 may be a wireline telephone as shown in FIG.1, or telephone 20 may be a wireless telephone, an Internet Protocol(IP) telephone, or another voice communication device. Voice transportnetwork 30 may be a voice communications network such as the PublicSwitched Telephone Network (PSTN), wireless telephone networks, andpacket-switched data networks configured to carry voice-gradecommunications. An example of a such a packet-switched data networkincludes an Internet Protocol (IP) network including voice-over-IP(VoIP) systems and applications.

Shared communications center 14 may be, for example, a broadband-enabledinternet device, a personal computer (PC), a web television system a webappliance, or another device capable of communicating with telephonenetwork 40. In an embodiment, communications center 14 may provide anenhanced caller-id interface, allowing the call recipient to interactwith telephone network 40 to redirect incoming calls to a pre-definednumber (e.g., Joan at work). Communications interface 16 may be a modemor other device configured to interface telephone network 40 with bothvoice telephone 12 and communications center 14 via one or morecommunications lines 18. For example, communications interface 16 may bea digital subscriber line (DSL) modem allowing broadband datatransmission to and from communications center 14 and allowing voicecalls to and from telephone 12 via single communications line 18. InFIG. 1, a data path to communications interface is identified as datacommunications path 18A. Data communications 18A may be transported oversubscriber line 18 or may be transported over a different subscriberline. In another embodiment, communications line 18 is a televisioncable line, a wireless communications link, a satellite communicationslink, and so on.

Telephone network 40 may include switch 41, and service control point(SCP) 42. Switch 41 may be a service switching point (SSP) commonly usedin advanced intelligent networks (AIN) in the PSTN. SCP 42 sends andreceives signaling messages from switch 41 via signaling network 44.Signaling network 44 may be based on the well-known common channelsignaling system number seven (SS7) protocol or another telephonysignaling protocol. Switch 41 may be configured with trigger 45associated with communications line 18 leading to location 10. Trigger45 may be any suitable AIN trigger, for example, a termination attempttrigger.

In an embodiment of the present invention, calls may be routed accordingto information stored in a subscriber profile (e.g., correlating a listof frequent callers with the likely recipients at the subscriber'slocation), a recipient profile (e.g., containing a list of default reachnumber for one or more of the recipients), a persona profile (e.g.,containing “Joan at work's” current reach number vs. “Joan at home's”current reach number), a presence profile (e.g., a database or file thatis updated automatically by the network when it determines that a userhas logged on to a system), or another subscriber-defined profile. Theprofiles may be stored in database 42A on SCP 42, or in anotherapplication or database server (not shown in FIG. 1). The profiles aredescribed more fully in a later section. In one embodiment, the variousprofiles may be modified by the subscriber using, for example, aninternet-capable access device, a menu-driven dual tone multi-frequency(DTMF) system telephone system and the like.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when a caller (using, forexample, telephone 20) places a call to subscriber line 18 the call isrouted from voice transport network 30 to switch 41 in telephone network40. Boundary 47, separating telephone network 40 from other systemsshown in FIG. 1, may be extended to include one or more of the othercomponents shown in FIG. 1. That is, for example, voice transportnetwork 30 may comprise part of telephone network 40 or may be aseparate network as shown in FIG. 1. Similarly, switch 41 may be aswitch in voice transport 30 (e.g., switch 41 may serve telephone 20 aswell as line 18) or may be a switch separate from voice transportnetwork 30 as shown in FIG. 1. When the call arrives at switch 41,trigger 45 on line 18 causes switch 41 to temporarily suspend callprocessing with respect to that call so the switch can determine propercall processing procedures.

While the call is suspended, switch 41 sends a query to SCP 42requesting call processing instructions for the call. The query is sentfrom switch 41 to SCP 42 via signaling network 44. The query includesinformation that may identify the calling party and the called party.That is, for example, the query may include the called party number(CdPN) and the calling party number (CgPN). The call may remainsuspended at switch 41 pending a response to the query. In an embodimentof the present invention, switch 41 may connect the call through totelephone device 12 if no response has been received within apre-determined period of time. In another embodiment of the presentinvention, switch 41 may play an announcement to the caller to notifyhim that the called party is being located. In another embodiment of thepresent invention, switch 41 may route the call to a service node orother system configured to receive the call while the network locatesthe intended called party.

In response to the query from switch 41, application logic on SCP 42operates to provide a call notification to communications center 14 andto receive call processing instructions from communications center 14.In one embodiment of the present invention SCP 42 may include all of theapplication logic and data needed to complete such transactions. Inanother embodiment, SCP 42 may work with an application server toretrieve data or other instructions that may be needed to complete thetransactions. In another embodiment, SCP 42 may hand-off the function ofcompleting the notification process and collecting call processinginstructions to an application server. In the latter embodiment, SCP 42send a message to the application server instructing it to determinesubsequent call processing instructions. Each of these embodimentsfunction in a similar manner. That is, a notification message is sent tocommunications center 14 with information associated with the call. Inresponse to the message, communications 14 provides a visual and/oraudible alert message to inform a user at location 10 that an incomingcall has been received. Communications center 14 then collects callprocessing instructions from the user and sends a response message backto telephone network 40. The call is further processed by telephonenetwork 40 based on the that response.

SCP Includes Application Logic for Completing Transactions

In this embodiment, SCP 42 includes application logic needed to completethe notification and call processing transactions in telephone network40. As described above, SCP 42 receives a query message from SSP 41 thatincludes certain data related to the call such as the CgPN and CdPNinformation. SCP 42 may use the CgPN information to identify callingname and address information using conventional AIN protocols.Additionally, SCP 42 may collect other information related to thecalling party. For example, a weather report or other information forthe calling party's location may be retrieved from a web-sever (notshown in FIG. 1) or other server systems.

SCP 42 may use the CdPN information to identify an address associatedwith the called party (i.e., the subscriber). A database of subscriberdirectory numbers (DN) may be maintained in database 42A for correlatinga subscriber's DN (i.e., a telephony network “address”) with thesubscriber's packet-switched network address. Once SCP 42 has determinedthe address for communications center 14 a notification message may besent. The notification message may be transmitted via secure intranet 46in telephone network 40. As shown in FIG. 1, a message sent from SCP 42via secure intranet 46 may ultimately be passed through switch 41 tocommunications center 14 over data path 18A.

In an alternative embodiment, shown in FIG. 2, the message from SCP 42may be transmitted to communications center 14 via a data path includingsecure intranet 46, firewall 48, and Internet 51. In another alternativeembodiment, also shown in FIG. 2, SCP 42 may send the notificationmessage to computer 50 instead of or in addition to communicationscenter 14. In this embodiment, a subscriber may issue call processinginstructions from a remote location.

The contents of the notification message may include the calling nameand address information and any external information (e.g., weatherreport) that may be associated with the calling party. The message mayalso include special call processing options based on any profile dataestablished by the subscriber. The response from communications center14 (and/or computer 50) in embodiments such as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 isessentially the same as with other embodiments shown in FIGS. 3-4,described below. Accordingly, the response and subsequent callprocessing are described in a later section.

SCP and Application Server Include Application Logic for CompletingTransactions

In some embodiments of the present invention, an application server maybe used to provide at least a portion or all of the application logicfor notifying the subscriber and for receiving the subscriber's callprocessing instructions. FIGS. 3 and 4 show two embodiments includingapplication server 43 in telephone network 40. Application server 43 maybe any suitable computer system that has a central processor, a memoryand application processing logic. Application server 43 may include oneor more databases 43A for implementing embodiments of the presentinvention. Such databases may be internal to application server 43 ormay be another database system (not shown in the Figures).

In some embodiments including application server 43, SCP 42 may send aquery to application server 43 to retrieve subscriber profileinformation and other information needed to complete the transactions.For example, SCP 42 may provide application server 43 with the CgPN andthe CdPN information and wait for a response from application server 43before sending a notification message to communications server 14.Application logic on application server 43 uses the CgPN and CdPN toformulate a response to SCP 42's query. The response may include anetwork address for communications center 14 and one or more callprocessing options based on any subscriber profile information that maybe stored in database 43A on application server 43. SCP 42 may then senda notification message to communications center 14 as described above inconnection with FIGS. 1 and 2. SCP 42 may then receive call processinginstructions from the subscriber and complete the call as directed.

In other embodiments, SCP 42 may send a query message to applicationserver 43 asking for call processing instructions. In such embodiments,SCP 42 waits for a response from application server 43 before respondingthe original query it received from switch 41. The message sent toapplication server 43 may include the CgPN and CdPN information as wellas any other information collects by SCP 42. That is, for example, ifSCP 42 collects calling name and calling address information based onthe CgPN, this information may be included in the message sent toapplication server 43.

Application server 43 looks up the network address for communicationscenter 14 in database 43A based on the CdPN information or otherinformation received from SCP 42. The network address may be, forexample, an IP address, if the underlying data network is an IP network,or a network domain name that may be translated into a network address.As described above, application server 42 may send a notificationmessage to communications center 14 via secure intranet 46 and throughswitch 41. The contents and processing of the notification message aredescribed in a later section.

FIG. 4 shows another alternative embodiment of the present inventionincluding application server 43. In this embodiment, application server43 may send the notification message to communication center 14 viasecure intranet 46, firewall 48 and internet 51. Alternatively,application server 43 may send the notification to computer 50 insteadof, or in addition to sending a message to communications center 14.

Calls Processed Using Voice-Over-Packet-Switched Data Networks

In further embodiments of the present invention, telephone network 40may include systems and applications for processing voice calls over apacket-switched data network. FIGS. 1-4, already described above, may beused to illustrate an implementation of such embodiments, with theprimary change being the capabilities of switch 41. In such embodiments,switch 41 may include call agent functionality configured to providecall processing for telephone calls in the packet-switched data networkenvironment. For example, switch 41 may be a Call agent 204 may be asoftswitch system, such as, for example, the Alcatel 1000 MultimediaMultiservice Exchange (available from Alcatel, Paris, France) andswitches provided by other vendors including, for example, LucentTechnologies (Murray Hill, N.J.), Sonus Networks (Westford, Mass.), andthe like. Call agent functions may also be provided via a media gatewaycontroller, such as for example, the Cisco Media Gateway Controller(available from Cisco Systems, San Jose, Calif.), and the like.

In embodiments implemented in voice-over-packet-switched data networks,when a call is received at switch 41 trigger 45 causes switch 41 totemporarily suspend call processing. Trigger 45 may be a network-basedtrigger such as an IP-based trigger, for example, a terminating triggerevent registered the switch. In response to the trigger, switch 41 maysend queries to and receive responses from SCP 42 via signaling network44. Alternatively, switch 41 may send queries to and receive responsesfrom application server 43 via secure intranet 46. In some embodiments,of the present invention, switch 41 may send queries to and receiveresponses from SCP 42 via either signaling network 44 or secure intranet46. In an IP-based calling environment, the query may include, forexample, an IP address associated with the calling party and an IPaddress associated with the called party. In another packet-switcheddata network environment, the query may include other information, asneeded to provide sufficient identification of the calling party and thecalled party.

Subscriber Profiles

As described herein, the subscriber may use one or more profiles thatallow varying degrees of call processing for calls from pre-determinedcallers. The purpose of the profiles, if used, is to correlate callerswith intended recipients and to provide a means for locating theintended call recipient in a manner consistent with the intendedrecipient's instructions. The information may be used to route the callto the intended recipient as directed by the actual recipient of thecall (i.e., the person receiving a call notification at communicationscenter 14 or computer 50).

In an embodiment of the present invention, a subscriber may create asubscriber profile that correlates designated inbound calls with aparticular member of the household (or office, when the presentinvention is implemented outside a household environment). An example ofthe information that may be included in a subscriber profile is shown inFIG. 5A. For example, in subscriber profile 501 the subscriber hasdetermined that any calls from the directory number “202-654-2022” arelikely intended for Joan, whereas calls from “404-553-7676” are forBilly. Similarly, in this example, the subscriber has determined thatcalls from unknown or private directory numbers will be handled by Joan.The subscriber has also determined that the default handling for callsnot specifically identified in the subscriber profile at to be announcedusing a generic notification message.

The subscriber may also establish one or more other profiles to providemore additional call processing options to the actual call recipient.Such profiles may be used, for example, to allow the call recipient toroute the call directly to its intended recipient. For example,recipient profile 502, such as shown in FIG. 5B may be used to providedefault reach numbers for one or more of the recipients. In thisexample, William and Joan have indicated that their default reachnumbers are “202-223-4545” and “404-434-1234”, respectively. This meansthat when a call intended for William reaches the system, for example, acall from “205-323-7155”, the notification message sent from applicationserver 43 (or SCP 42 in embodiments where the SCP includes allapplication processing logic) may include a field indicating that thecall is intended for William and a field containing William's defaultreach number. Communications center 14 (or computer 50) may use thisinformation to present one or more calling options to the call recipientas described in the next section.

FIG. 5C shows another example of an additional profile that thesubscriber may establish according to embodiments of the presentinvention. “Persona” profile 503, shown in FIG. 5C, may be used todefine one or more call processing instructions associated with intendedrecipients based on the capacity in which the recipient is acting. Forexample, in the persona profile shown in FIG. 5C, Joan has included onetelephone reach number for work-related calls and a different telephonereach number for personal calls. By including such persona profileinformation, the actual call recipient may further direct calls to Joan,depending on the caller's identity. For example, if a call from “FrankSmith” is received from telephone number 202-121-8899, the subscriberprofile indicates that this call is intended for Joan. Further, thepersona profile indicates that Joan has a work persona and a personalpersona. This information may be transmitted to communications center 14(or to computer 50) for use in a notification message as described inthe next section.

FIG. 5D shows another profile that may be used according to the presentinvention to assist the third-party call redirection according to thepresent invention. In this example, presence profile 504 may be updatedautomatically by the network when it determines that a user has loggedon to a system. Use of a presence profile provides an option for theactual call recipient to direct the network to “find” the correcttelephone number for redirecting a call to a particular user.

After determining the identity of the intended recipient, and anyadditional call processing options, a notification message is sent tocommunications center 14 (or to computer 50 in some embodiments).Communications center 14 (or computer 50) processes the notificationmessage as described in the next section.

In embodiments of the present invention, a web interface or other userinterface application may be provided to allow the user to update theinformation stored in the profiles. As shown in FIG. 1, applicationserver 43 (or SCP 42) may be accessible via several platforms for easeof use by the users. For example, a user may update his information viaa web browser application on computer system 50. Computer 50 may have adial-up connection to Internet 51 (e.g., via Internet Service Provider(ISP) 53 or may have a direct connection to Internet 51 or may beattached to a local area network having connectivity to Internet 51.FIG. 1 also shows other means by which a user may update his profileinformation. For example, the user may update the information viawireless network 60, using for example, wireless application protocol(WAP) systems such as palmtop computer 61, personal digital assistant62, wireless telephone 63 and interactive pager device 64. WAP devicestypically connect to wireless network 60 via a WAP gateway 65 as shownin FIG. 1.

Subscriber Notification and Call Processing Instructions

As described above, communications center 14 (or computer 50) receives acall notification message from application server 43 (on in someembodiments from SCP 42). The notification message includes informationabout the calling party which may be obtained from standard calling nameservices or other database services correlating a calling party number(or IP address) with other data, such as, for example, an address,postal code, a weather report, or other information related to thecaller's location or identity. When communications center 14 receivesthe caller information, it may provide a visible or audible alert thatan incoming call is in progress. The alert may also be a combination ofboth audible and visual alerts. An example of a visual alert is shown inFIGS. 6A and 6B. FIG. 6A shows communications center 14 displayingpop-up window 140 providing information about the call. FIG. 6B is anenlarged view of pop-up window 140. As shown in FIG. 6B, pop-up window140 includes caller-id information 141, and call processing optionbuttons 142-145. If communications center 14 receives input from theactual call recipient, a response message is sent back to applicationserver 43 (or SCP 42). The response may be based on a call processingoption selected by the recipient.

Examples of call processing instructions are shown in FIG. 6B. Forexample, a call recipient at location 10 may choose to answer the callby selecting option button 142 upon learning that the caller is “DianneCarter” (as shown in FIG. 6B). If this option is selected,communications center 14 sends a message back to application server 43(or SCP 42) indicating the call recipient's desire to receive the callat location 10. In this case, application server 43 (if an applicationserver is used in the implementation) informs SCP 42 of the recipient'scall processing instructions. SCP 42 then responds to switch 41'soriginal query with an instruction to present the call. When thetelephone rings, the recipient may lift the handset on telephone 12 atlocation 10. In embodiments wherein switch 41 is configured forvoice-over-data networks, the call may be presented via a data path tocommunications center 14. In such embodiments, communications center 14may comprise speakers and a microphone or other hardware and softwareallowing the recipient to receive the call through that device.Similarly, in embodiments wherein the notification message istransmitted to another computer system, such as, computer 50, switch 41may establish a data session with that computer to present the call tothe actual recipient.

As shown in FIG. 6B, other options may be provided via pop-up window140. For example, if the recipient selects option button 143, the callis connected to a voice mail system without further intervention by theactual recipient. In one embodiment, the voice mail system may comprisea answering machine at location 10 (not shown in FIG. 1). The answeringmachine may be a standalone system or may be integrated withcommunication center 14. In this embodiment, the answering machine maycomprise a single answering service, i.e., one that places all receivedcalls into a single storage queue, or the answering machine may comprisea plurality of storage queues to delineate multiple users of themachine. For example, option button 143 may include a sub-optionallowing the user to send the call to a specific user's voicemailsystem. In another embodiment, the voice mail system may comprise acentrally operated service such as may be provided through network 40.When the actual recipient selects option 143, communications center 14routes the call to the answering machine and provides any special codesneeded to route the call to the appropriate storage queue.

As shown in FIG. 6B, other option buttons may be included in pop-updisplay window 140. Option button 144 may be used to place the caller onhold. If this option is selected, communications center 14 (or computer50) may send a message to application server 43 (or to SCP 42)instructing the system to play an announcement to the caller that toinform her that she is being placed on hold. Application server 43relays the instruction to SCP 42 and SCP 42 sends a message to switch 41directing it to play the appropriate announcement and directing it tocontinue waiting for some predetermined amount of time to receiveanother response from SCP 42.

After the recipient selects option button 144, notification window 140may change its display to indicate the call is on hold. For example, the“Hold” option may become “grayed out” to indicate that option is nolonger available. other visual or audible queues may also be provided,such as, for example, the window color may change or the window mayflash on and off the screen as a reminder that a caller is on hold. Whenthe recipient is ready to provide subsequent call processinginstructions, he may select on of the other option buttons as describedherein.

Another option provided on pop-up window 140 may be a request to locatethe intended recipient and then connect the caller through to thatperson's telephone number. This option is shown as option button 145 inFIG. 6B. When SCP 42 or application server 43 receives the instructionto “Find Joan” or another user of communications line 18, a presencedatabase (as shown in FIG. 5D) may be consulted to determine theintended recipient's current telephone number.

Still other options may be provided to the actual call recipientaccording to embodiments of the present invention. For example, anoption to redirect a call according to a user's persona may be provided.In this example, a button such as “Send to Joan at Work” or “Send toJoan's Personal Telephone” may be provided. Furthermore, the specificlayout of the notification message and the options provided to theactual call recipient may utilize any suitable style. For example, thenotification message need not be displayed via a “pop-up” window. Thenotification may be provided via a text-based display system a graphicaluser interface or another system suitable for providing calling partyinformation and call processing options and for receiving recipientinstructions.

Furthermore, the option buttons may comprise one or more drop-down listsfrom which the recipient may select the call processing options for aparticular call. For example, call recipient may wish to have the optionto route the call to some user other than the “intended” user. That is,for example, an override system may be included. In this case,notification window 140 may include a drop-down list identifying allusers listed in the subscriber profile.

FIG. 7 is a generalized flow diagram showing steps that may be performedin some embodiments of the present invention. As described above, one ormore of these steps may be carried out on different systems such as anSCP or an application server or both. In this example, the processstarts with step 700 when a switch receives a call for the subscriber. Atrigger on the switch is encountered causing the switch to suspend thecall and initiate a query. As shown in step 702, the query issued maydepend on the type of switch involved. For example, it the switch is anSSP, the query may sent to an SCP as an AIN query transmitted using thewell-known transmission control application part (TCAP) protocol of SS7as shown in step 704. From the SCP, a message may be transmitted to anapplication server for further processing using an IP message.Alternatively, if the switch is a softswitch (i.e., a switch configuredfor routing voice calls via a packet-switched data network) the queryissued depends on the signaling method used to implement embodiments ofthe present invention as shown in step 706. If convention telephonenetwork signaling (“telco” method) is used, the query issued may betransmitted to the SCP as a TCAP query, as shown in step 708. If a“network” method is used, the query may pass directly from the switch toan application server using an IP message, as shown in step 710.

As described above, the query message sent to the application server mayinclude calling name information gathered by the SCP or by theapplication server using conventional calling name databases andqueries. Accordingly, the query transmitted to the application servermay include such information as the calling number, the calling name, astreet address associated with the calling party and other informationthat may be presented to the call recipient, as well as the called partyinformation. The application server may gather additional informationfrom its own databases or may query other external database systems tocollect more information regarding the calling party.

Using the information provided in the query, the application serveridentifies the identity of the subscriber in step 710. As describedpreviously, this may entail looking up the called party number adatabase to identify a network address associated with a communicationscenter. In step 712, the application server identifies the identity ofthe intended call recipient. This step may entail looking up the calledparty number and the calling party number in one or more databases toidentify a the specific call processing options associated with theintended recipient as defined in one or more profiles. For example, instep 714, the application server may look to seek if a persona profileis associated with the intended call recipient.

In step 716, the application server sends a message to thecommunications center associated with the subscriber. Also in step 716,the communications center may display an alert for any user of thecommunications center. The alert may include the calling partyinformation and provide call processing options. The user of thecommunications center becomes the “actual” recipient of the call byvirtue of receiving the notification. However, in step 718, therecipient may provide call processing instructions via thecommunications center to the application server.

As shown in step 720, the next step may depend again on the signalingmethod employed in a specific embodiment. For example, if a telco methodis used, the process may move on to step 722, wherein the applicationserver sends a response to the SCP. Otherwise, if a network method isused, the application server may send its response direct to the switchin step 724. Once the switch receives the response, it processes thecall in step 726 according to instructions received from the actual callrecipient.

The foregoing disclosure of the preferred embodiments of the presentinvention has been presented for purposes of illustration anddescription. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit theinvention to the precise forms disclosed. Many variations andmodifications of the embodiments described herein will be apparent toone of ordinary skill in the art in light of the above disclosure. Thescope of the invention is to be defined only by the claims appendedhereto, and by their equivalents.

Further, in describing representative embodiments of the presentinvention, the specification may have presented the method and/orprocess of the present invention as a particular sequence of steps.However, to the extent that the method or process does not rely on theparticular order of steps set forth herein, the method or process shouldnot be limited to the particular sequence of steps described. As one ofordinary skill in the art would appreciate, other sequences of steps maybe possible. Therefore, the particular order of the steps set forth inthe specification should not be construed as limitations on the claims.In addition, the claims directed to the method and/or process of thepresent invention should not be limited to the performance of theirsteps in the order written, and one skilled in the art can readilyappreciate that the sequences may be varied and still remain within thespirit and scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of processing a call, comprising:receiving the call; querying a database for a calling number and acalled number associated with the call; retrieving from the database anetwork address associated with the calling number and the callednumber; storing in the database a plurality of call recipients;retrieving from the database an intended recipient of the call that isalso associated with the calling number and the called number; andsending a notification message to the network address that includes thecalling number and the intended recipient of the call.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising receiving instructions for processing thecall.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receivinginstructions from the intended recipient for processing the call.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising retrieving a profile associatedwith the called number.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprisingrouting the call to the called number after a predetermined time.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, wherein if no response is received to thenotification message after a predetermined time, then further comprisingrouting the call to the called number.
 7. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising playing an announcement to the calling number.
 8. The methodof claim 1, further comprising receiving a response to the notificationmessage.
 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising processing thecall based on instructions in the response.
 10. The method of claim 1,further comprising retrieving a weather report associated with thecalling number.
 11. The method of claim 10, further comprising includingthe weather report in the notification message sent to the networkaddress.
 12. The method of claim 1, further comprising including callprocessing options in the notification message sent to the networkaddress.
 13. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending thenotification message over the Internet to the network address.
 14. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the network address is an Internet protocoladdress.
 15. The method of claim 1, further comprising translating thenetwork address.
 16. The method of claim 1, further comprisingsuspending processing of the call.
 17. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising resuming processing of the call.
 18. The method of claim 1,further comprising retrieving an Internet protocol address associatedwith the calling number.
 19. A system for processing a call, comprising:a processor communicating with memory storing code that causes theprocessor to: receive the call; query a database for a calling numberand a called number associated with the call; retrieve from the databasea network address associated with the calling number and the callednumber; store in the database a plurality of call recipients; retrievefrom the database an intended recipient of the call that is alsoassociated with the calling number and the called number; and send anotification message to the network address that includes the callingnumber and the intended recipient of the call.
 20. A computer readablememory storing processor executable instructions for performing a methodof processing a call, the method comprising: receiving the call;querying a database for a calling number and a called number associatedwith the call; retrieving from the database a network address associatedwith the calling number and the called number; storing in the database aplurality of call recipients; retrieving from the database an intendedrecipient of the call that is also associated with the calling numberand the called number; and sending a notification message to the networkaddress that includes the calling number and the intended recipient ofthe call.